Salvation
by Stranger In A Normal Land
Summary: AU. No one ever understood Ranma in the original story. A very slight change has been introduced to remedy this. But things are never simple when they involve Ranma...
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: you know the drill.  
  
Salvation:  
  
denotes a language other than japanese. Figure out which language from context.  
  
[] will denote Panda signs, in later chapters.  
  
Prologue: 8 years earlier  
  
Genma hefted the pack a moment, and decided it wasn't nearly heavy enough. Unpacking the clothing, food, stove, pots, tent, and other gear, he exposed the rocks in the botton. A glance around their current camping spot revealed that there were plenty of suitable candidates in the area. Grabbing several large ones, he added them to the pile in the bottom of the pack. After repacking everything, he lifted it again, and was satisfied to note that it weighed at least 300 pounds.  
  
He had been increasing the pack's weight fairly steadily over the 2 years that he and Ranma had been travelling, but he noticed that the 7 year old didn't seem to be straining to carry the pack much anymore, even during the recent swim to Africa, so it was time to up the weight a fair amount more. He headed back to the area that was being used for training, looked down into the deep hole he had dug, and noted Ranma struggling to stay standing. However, the apes he had collected were all unconscious, so it seemed that, in spite of not being fed for almost 3 days, Ranma had managed to defeat the angry simians. He briefly wondered if Ranma had been the one to get the food or not, but dismissed it as irrelevant.  
  
"Ranma!" he called down, "Come on, son, it's time to get moving again. We're only a day or so from the next training ground." The boy looked up, nodded solemnly, and began climbing out of the pit. When he got about halfway up, Genma noticed that his arms were too sore to continue. As he clung to the wall, trying to muster the strength to do more than just hang on, Genma walked leisurely back to the campsite, and returned a few minutes later with a coil of rope. He dropped one end down, and said, "Go ahead, Ranma, grab the rope. I'll pull you the rest of the way out." However, just then, the handholds in the dirt which Ranma had been using to climb out gave, dropping loose dirt and rocks, as well as a dirty, exhausted 7 year old.  
  
He landed on his feet, but was hit by several falling rocks, which knocked him off his feet. Unfortunately, several of the baboons in the pit woke up just then, and seeing the boy which had hurt them lying prone, proceeded to attack him. The brutality of the monkey beatdown began to worry Genma after a couple of minutes, and he called out "Grab the rope, Ranma!" The young martial artist managed to knock down two of the angry primates, and managed to make it over to the rope and grab on. Genma quickly hauled him out of the pit. He was forced to bat off a couple of the angry baboons who tenaciously held on the whole way up, but, aside from Ranma falling unconscious, which was pretty common, everything seemed all right.  
  
Gently, he picked up his beaten, bruised, bloody, unconscious son, and carried him back to the campsite, where he tended and bandaged the wounds. Realizing that the boy was unlikely to wake up any time soon, he shouldered both packs, and, carrying his son, started hiking once more.  
  
Unknown to Genma, the repeated trauma to the head during recent training had caused a hairline fracture in the back of his son's skull, and even with Ranma's superb healing abilities, with Genma around, this was a disaster waiting to happen.  
  
The next day, they reached the training ground. It consisted of a large log suspended on two ropes, with numerous smaller logs similarly suspended in such a fashior that they could be made to swing into the log at various points along its trajectory.   
  
In actuality, it wasn't a training ground at all; located in Uganda, it had been built by a group of missionaries in the late 17th century, who had very strange beliefs about how to execute witches, and, out of a fear that the missionaries would return if it wasn't maintained, several local tribes ensured that it stayed in good repair. Regardless, Genma had heard of it, and thought it would be a good training ground while they were in Africa.  
  
Ranma had regained consciousness shortly after Genma had finished setting up camp, and they were currently eating, Genma for once allowing Ranma to eat in peace. He showed Ranma the 'training ground', and decided to explain the training. "All right, son, this is going to be some speed, skill, toughness, and strength training, all at once." Ranma looked  
  
wide-eyed. "Really, daddy? How are we going to do that?" Genma pointed to the largest of the logs.   
  
"You see that log? We're going to tie you to one end, and get it swinging. Then, I'm going to swing those smaller logs at you, and you're going to try to knock them all away. Remember that any which hit you are going to hurt, but it will help toughen you up. Do  
  
you understand?" Ranma replied, "Yes, papa!" his face creased for a minute, and then he asked, "Papa, if I do well, will you teach me some new techniques?", using that cute shining-eyed pleading look that can only be achieved by children, girls, and puppies.  
  
Genma nodded. "I'll tell you what. If you do well, I'll take you to a temple, and we'll find a new style for you to learn." Ranma bounced excitedly, and cried "Yay!"  
  
Genma indulged in a moment of enjoyment at his son's excitement, and then sternly told his son, "Now, Ranma, remember what I've told you about emotions." The boy settled down almost immediately, and said, "They're a weakness. Sorry, papa." The bandana'ed  
  
martial artist patted his son on the shoulder, and said, "It's okay, son. Now, get some rest. We'll be starting early tomorrow." "Okay, papa."  
  
As the new day dawned, several members of a local tribe had come to investigate the people who were camping at the Altar of the Pale Demons, as the place was called in the local tongue. They saw a foreigner with a white outfit and bandana strapping a young boy  
  
in a similar outfit to the Sacrificial Altar. One native turned to his fellows. Why is that boy being sacrificed, I wonder? Another responded, Hell if I know. But that kid looks excited, for some reason. A third mused, you don't think they're too dumb to know  
  
it's an execution device?. The first turned to the third, and raised an eyebrow Could anyone REALLY be THAT dumb?. In morbid fascination, they watched the proceedings.  
  
Once Ranma was strapped on, and the log was set swinging, Genma got behind the first cluster of smaller logs, and asked, "ready, Ranma?", and, at his son's nod, he swung the first of the logs.  
  
Tied to the log by ropes crossing his chest to minimize the hindrance to his fighting skill, Ranma started to knock the heavy logs away before they could hit him. Soon, though, dozens of logs were swinging towards him, and, finally, one made it through his flurry of attacks. It so happened that it caught him in the ribs, but he ignored the painful blow. Moments later, another caught him in his lower stomach, but again, he shrugged it off. After that, he managed to hold his own for nearly 10 minutes before one slipped through his guard, striking right below the solar plexus, and stunning him for just a moment.  
  
A moment was too long, though, as he began to get pummeled against the large log, by the numerous smaller logs. Indeed, they were impacting hard enough to crack the log behind his back. As the logs began to lose momentum, Genma changed positions so that he could push them again. Frustrated by the fact that his son hadn't fully recovered his guard yet, and was still taking a fair number of hits, he shoved one of the logs much harder than he had intended, and it caught Ranma in the face with enough force to split the log he was tied against fully in two. Further, the force propelled him back against a tree behind him, where he impacted with an unpleasant 'crunch'. The smaller log fell away, also split, and the young boy stayed suspended a moment, before sliding down the tree, leaving a red smear.  
  
Oh, that's bad. Commented the second native. Not gonna survive a wound like that. commented the third. The first was still in shock the boy had lasted so long.  
  
In moments, Genma was by his son's side. "Ranma! Are you all right?" he asked, panicked, but to no avail. The closest thing he got to a response was a feeble twitch from his son. Probing the wound, he found that a section of the skull in the back, near the top  
  
of the head, was definitely fractured. Realizing that his son's life was in more danger than, perhaps, he'd ever placed it in before, he quickly cleaned the wound as best he could, and bandaged it tightly. He grabbed his gear in moments, and, gently cradling his son, took off at top speed towards the nearest city.  
  
Several hours later, he reached the main hospital in Kampala. The doctors examined the wound, and said they could treat it, but that Ranma might be left in a coma. As Ranma was rushed into a room for emergency treatment, Genma finally collapsed into a chair and  
  
cried. True, it was because if Nodoka found out about this, his life was forfeit, but he cried, nonetheless.  
  
Ranma had been in the hospital for almost a month, during which time Genma rarely left his side. He indeed had slipped into a coma, and the doctors were unsure if he'd ever recover from the trauma. They were shocked to observe how quickly the comatose boy healed, however, and even noticed that the damaged bone was growing back thicker and denser than before. However, x-rays had revealed that slivers of bone had been embedded in the brain, and, although the extent of damage was unknown, they feared that it might permanently affect the boy.  
  
Then, one day, he woke up. The doctors couldn't explain it, and were shocked to find that he seemed to be fine. They explained to Genma how lucky he was, and that his son seemed to be fine, but he should be on the lookout for personality changes, memory loss, or anything like that, as it could indicate serious brain damage that wasn't immediately appearent. It never occurred to them that Ranma's incredible ability to heal might actually include brain tissue... nor would they have expected that, as with any other damaged tissue, Ranma's body wouldn't simply rebuild it, but would rebuild it better and stronger. Nor would anyone suspect, least of all Genma.  
  
Nonetheless, two days later, Genma snuck Ranma out of the hospital to avoid paying the bills, and, realizing that the people he'd made agreements with about Ranma marrying their daughters would probably come looking for him soon, decided that Uganda had no more to offer them on their training trip, and so, they moved on to greener pastures.  
  
Over the next few months, Ranma had some problems with serious headaches, but, being trained to ignore pain, never mentioned it to anyone. There were also a  
  
few odd experiences, thoughts, and memories that he seemed to have over the next few years, but he always dismissed them quickly.  
  
8 long years passed. In fact, almost 8 years to the day after Ranma's injury, they visited a little known chinese training ground called "Jusenkyo". When Ranma emerged from the pool of drowned girl, he screamed. When he screamed, though, something else happened. A flash in Genma's head of empathy, as he instantly remembered all the things he'd said about girls to Ranma, and all the training he'd given him about females. Then, in perhaps the first instance of genuine empathy in his life, Genma realized exactly how Ranma must feel at that moment. An instant later, he saw the now female Ranma look at him, and realized exactly how much of it was his fault, and that he was in extreme danger. As fast as he had ever moved in his life, the human in panda form turned and ran for his life.  
  
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Author's Note: Wheee! Another A/U started, that could run for a long time, if I like how it goes! Ummm, yeah, I don't really know where this came from, except in some fanfics I've read recently (and in the manga, which I reread a lot), no one ever seems to understand Ranma's point of view. He either gets blamed for things, or he simply doesn't get listened to. So, I decided to see what would happen if... er... well, you'll see.  
  
This prologue was mostly just to show how much of a living hell Ranma's life was on the training trip. I guess you could call this a sympathy fic. Oh well, it'll get funnier (I hope) in a chapter or two, when I start rewriting events from the manga. 


	2. Arrivals and Revelations

Disclaimer: This is a test of the emergency Ranma Broadcasting system. In the event of a real emergency, real Ranma would have been broadcast, and not just a stupid fanfic.  
  
Salvation  
  
denotes a language other than japanese. Figure out which language from context.  
  
[] denotes Panda signs  
  
Chapter 1: Arrivals and Revelations  
  
It was raining. It had rained almost every day for the past three weeks. Genma wondered if this was part of the curse as he walked along in his recently-acquired panda form. It certainly didn't seem to be doing Ranma any good. He could almost feel the waves of depression rolling off of him. He turned around and glance behind him. Ranma, in his female body, was walking along, head bowed, looking soaked and utterly miserable.   
  
It was beginning to worry Genma; the only thing that seemed to bring Ranma out of his depression was when his anger at Genma was roused. In fact, when such would happen, Genma feared for his life; his son barely retained enough control to keep from killing his father.  
  
It was for this reason that Genma had decided it was time to end the training trip, and, therefore, had sent a postcard to an old friend. They were in the outskirts of Nerima ward, and he figured it was time to tell Ranma what the plan was. He turned around and waited for Ranma to catch up.  
  
Ranma could tell Genma was planning something. He had been able to tell for as long as he could remember. He hoped that it had something to do with curing the damned curses. But, if it did, they probably wouldn't be in the area around Tokyo. And for some reason, he was picturing sake, a long-haired man with a mustache, and... a ring? So shocked was he by this horrific mental picture that he didn't notice that the panda had stopped, and walked right into him.  
  
Immediately, the panda held up a sign. [All right, boy, there's a reason we're here.] Ranma's eyes narrowed. "What are you planning, old man?" The panda gulped and began to sweat. He could feel Ranma's anger building. He turned the sign around. [A long time ago, my friend Soun and I agreed to unite the two schools of anything-goes martial arts.] Ranma's eyes narrowed even further in response. "And?" he asked, dangerously. Quickly another sign was held up [youhavetomarryoneofhisdaughtersforthesakeoffamilyhonor!] Ranma blinked. "One more time, pops. With seperate words this time." The panda examined the sign a moment, scratching its head with the other paw. Then it shrugged, and held up the wooden sign again, turned around once more. [You have to marry one of his daughters, for the sake of family honor.]  
  
Inwardly, Ranma breathed a sigh of relief. His father wasn't going to try to get him married to a man. Wait. "Hey! What's the big idea, pops? Picking who I'm supposed to marry, like that. No way." He stalked past the panda, and continued, "I'm not gonna have any part of this." He then ducked under the paw that swept out, and then started to run.  
  
Meanwhile, three girls had been gathered around a table by their father, a long-haired, mustachioed man, to inform them that one of them would be meeting her fiancee today.  
  
Ranma ducked several more attacks, and then came out of the undergrowth onto a street. He dodged yet another attack, by leaping forward, and followed up with a kick in midair. "Cut it out, old man!" He dropped back into a fighting stance, as the panda picked itself back up. People were now watching, but Ranma didn't really care. More attacks were exchanged, before Ranma said, "Dammit, pops, I gotta get rid of this curse. This isn't any time for marriage." The panda growfed, and attacked once more, and as he parried the blows, he continued, "I still say this whole thing sucks. Picking my fiancee for me without even asking!" this last as his father was thrown into the pavement. "I'm going back to china, old man, suck on that." he continued, picking up his pack from where it had fallen, and stalking off. Suddenly, he got a picture of a stop sign. "Huh?" he began, just before the panda connected with the uprooted sign it was swinging. The sign bent around Ranma's head, but successfully knocked him out. The panda grabbed the boy-turned-girl, slung him over one shoulder, grabbed the pack, and continued towards his destination.  
  
Ranma woke up shortly before they arrived at the Tendo dojo. His displeasure at being carried outweighing his depression, for the moment, he struggled to get free, but was unable to do so before arriving at a gate. As they passed through, Ranma realized he wouldn't be able to get free in time, and slumped back over his father's shoulder. Genma paused a moment, and then knocked.  
  
"oh, that must be Ranma!" Nabiki cried, jumping up alongside Soun, who was calling out "Saotome, old friend, we've been waiting!". They ran to answer the door, only to come back even faster, trailed by what, on first glance, appeared to be a rather large panda. Second glance wasn't much of an improvement, merely revealing the prescence of a redhead slung over its shoulder, and a couple of large backpacks. Kasumi elected to take cover behind Soun, whereas Nabiki chose Akane, although the tense posture of each revealed that they wouldn't be much help. Before they could take any further actions, however, the redhead managed to get a grip around the bear's neck. Shifting her weight, she brought a backfist down on the panda's head, eliciting a "growf" of protest. "Leggo, y'old fool, you're scarin' 'em." she said. With a nasty glare, it picked her up off its shoulder, and set her on the ground in between itself and the Tendos.  
  
Soun Tendo recovered from his shock enough to stammer out, "y-you w-w-wo-wouldn't b-be...?" In reply, Ranma nodded, his head downcast. "I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry 'bout this." he said. In a moment, he found himself under a unnerving stare from one of the girls in front of him, one that reminded him of his time in a certain pit full of cats. He shuddered unconsciously, just as he was enveloped in a hug. "At last! You've come! It's so good of you to come!" Soun cried, as he embraced the not-presently-male boy. Peering intently over her father's shoulder, Nabiki said, "Ooooo! he's cute!", continuing with the stare which creeped him out so. Suddenly, Soun froze, and then pulled Ranma away from him. Akane and Kasumi remained quiet, throughout this. Something didn't seem right, but neither could tell quite what. Nabiki leaned in closer for a look, and her eyes narrowed. " 'He' is a girl.", she said, poking Ranma's copious chest. "Could you please stop that?" Ranma asked after the third poke. Then, Soun fainted.  
  
A few minutes later, he awoke to find his family, and their guests kneeling around him. "Oh, poor daddy," Kasumi commented, "He's so dissapointed." "HE's dissapointed? Some fiancee THIS is!" Nabiki replied. A large, black and white panda could feel almost palpable waves of depression rolling off Ranma, and was slowly scooting away from his son, just in case. He wasn't sure what Ranma might do, but he didn't think it would be good. For the first time in over half a decade, however, he wasn't alone in picking up these signals from Ranma. Although she didn't sense it in the same way that Genma did, Akane noticed the slump of the other girl's shoulders, and the way she flinched at each comment. She decided to speak up. "Stop it, you two! He...she... is our guest!"  
  
However, she went unheard, as Nabiki continued, "This is all your fault, daddy! You should have made sure!" Soun defended himself by saying "Well, he said he had a son!!", but to no avail, as Nabiki squeezed one of Ranma's breasts, and said, "Do you see a son here? Hmmm? Do you?" Quietly, Ranma replied, "ummm... I really wish you'd stop that." 'that's the second time she's done that. And she did seem to be staring intently at me when we arrived. Maybe she likes girls 'that way'? ', Ranma considered briefly. Once more Akane decided to intervene. Tapping Ranma on the shoulder, she said, "Hey, join me in the dojo? I'm Akane, you want to be friends?" For the first time since the girl and panda had arrived, the girl smiled at her, and she felt an almost palpable sense of gratitude. However, not being able to figure out why she had felt the girl's gratitude so strongly, Akane dismissed it as her imagination, as they walked out to the dojo.  
  
"You practice Kempo, right?" she asked the visitor. "Umm, a little." came the reply. "Then, let's have a little match, okay? Just for fun. I won't hurt you." Ranma gave her an odd look, and replied, "if you say so." Akane dropped into a fighting stance, and then led off with a punch, from which Ranma merely swayed backwards. She followed it with a reverse punch, which Ranma sidestepped with ease. Stepping to the right, she did a side kick, but her opponent jumped over it. As she landed, Akane threw a couple punches, which once more the other girl leaned out of the way of, and did so again in response to the follow-up kick.   
  
Akane was puzzled; she'd never had someone simply dodge all her attacks so easily. "What's the matter? Swing at me!" she yelled. A couple more attacks yielded no more results. 'Is she reading my moves?' Akane wondered, 'Okay, this time FOR REAL!' she thought, throwing a full speed punch, which collided with, and broke, the boards which made up the wall of the dojo. Then, she felt a tap on the back of her head. She turned, to see a smiling Ranma with one finger extended. Ranma chuckled nervously, and Akane joined her a moment later.   
  
"You're... pretty good." Akane admitted. "I'm just glad you're a girl." In response to this, Ranma instantly, and visibly, sunk back into her earlier depression. "What? I'd just really hate to lose to a boy." She continued, only to notice that, if anything, the depression was made worse by that comment. "What is it?" She asked. "I AM a guy." Ranma replied, looking her in the eye. Akane raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? You look like a girl to me." Ranma shook her head. "I know, I'm a girl at the moment. This is gonna take a bit of explainin'. Ummm... could you get some hot water?" Thoroughly confused, Akane nodded her assent, and left to get some hot water.  
  
Around that time, Soun, and a man about his age, in a white gi, with glasses and a bandanna, were sitting by the shogi doors. "Hey, sis, who's that old guy?" Nabiki asked, as she stopped by the kitchen. "I don't know." replied Kasumi. Realizing that she didn't have some of the vegetables for the salad she was planning, Kasumi decided to go to the store, and hope things were explained later.  
  
A few minutes later, Akane returned, with a steaming kettle, two cups, and a strainer for making tea. She handed the shorter girl the kettle and a cup, and sat down. "All right," Ranma said, "if I tell you the story first, you won't believe me, so I'll just show you first, okay?" Having no idea what the redhead was talking about, Akane nodded her assent. Ranma poured a bit of the water from the kettle out on her own head, and, in an instant, was replaced by a much taller, but similar looking young man, the exception being his black hair. Akane took a cue from her father, and promptly fainted.  
  
Shortly, she awoke, muttered, "what a weird dream.", and opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was that she was in the dojo, and that someone was kneeling over her. Then she noticed it was the girl-turned-boy that had caused her to faint. Her eyes widened. "It wasn't a dream!" She exclaimed, and then, embarrassed, covered her mouth with her hands, as he shook his head. "No dream. Maybe a nightmare, but certainly not yours." he replied. She sat up, and peered intently at him. "But... but... how? You were a girl... a-and now you're a g-guy! That's impossible!" she stuttered. "Nah. Obviously not." he said, shrugging, and then continued, "I told'ja I'd tell the story after I showed you that I'm tellin' tha' truth. So, pops an' I were on this trainin' trip for a while now, an' we swam over ta china a few months ago, so I could study Wing Chun kung fu, an' some other styles. Well, while we were there, pops decided that we'd go to this trainin' ground he'd heard of, called Jusenkyo..." Akane sat quietly, listening to the story of how she...he... got cursed. After he finished, she sat quietly for a moment, and then asked, "So, you're really a guy?" He nodded emphatically. She sat for a moment longer, thinking. 'I got beaten... by a boy...' she realized. She stood up, opened the door, stepped outside, closed the door, screamed, and ran inside. A moment later, the door of the dojo slid open once more, and Ranma leaned out. "Are all the people here crazy or something?" He wondered.  
  
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Author's Notes: Oy. Took me a while to finish a chapter of ANY of my stories, and here it is. I've been really busy, and not in a writing mood when I did have time, and this may continue. I don't know yet. Especially since, although loosely based on the manga, I have only a few ideas about where this story is going. Hopefully, though, I'll have more up, soon, and, although some basic events will resemble the way things happen in the manga, it won't be as close to plaigarism as parts of this chapter. I suppose that, just this once, I can skip asking for reviews, since it's so close to the original manga. Oy. So, uh... review the previous chapter! And my other stories. And stay tuned for the next chapter, hopefully coming sometime this weekend! 


End file.
